The Shadows
by Sarah4eva
Summary: <html><head></head>Klaus is haunted by dreams. Dreams that will help him truly understand what it means to be a hybrid. Dreams that will lead him to someone who understands his pain, loss and hate. (R&R welcome)</html>
1. Unease (Klaus POV)

Thudum, thudum, thudum, I hear my heart, shadows fly before my eyes. It all feels important and that confuses me. I'm dead, yet my heart beats? I don't sleep, yet I'm dreaming? In this my long life I've dreamt before, but in the past it was such a rare event. These days, however, I often find myself in dreams and the jumbled images stay with me long after I wake.

The confusion grows, stretching the moment, but finally my eyes flutter open. My cornea is hit by a ray of bright sunlight. Noon-time. I push off all the fabric tangled around my limbs and stride down the stairs in a crumpled white shirt and jeans; barefoot, the wooden floors slippery under my feet. Their all there hunched over the table, Elijah, Marcel, Haley, the room further crowded by the witches, my hybrids, Marus's soldiers and Haley's wolves. One big, happy family. The air sits on me, tense, thick, trying.

Cease fire terms. It's what Marcel, Haley and Elijah are heatedly discussing. But this topic barely holds my interest, it's just part of the war dance. Winning, decimating my enemies, now there's a topic. A glint of blue light reflects off black hair. I turn to face the French doors and find Davina on the porch, jabbering away to a dark haired girl. I correct my direction and march towards them. I can feel Marcel's gaze shift from the table to me.

Her skin is pale, not alabaster, just pale. It has a grayish tinge. You couldn't call it olive, because olive suggests she was sun kissed; but even as the sun shone directly over her, she seemed to bathe in moonlight. Her hair reminded me of the dark waves I glimpsed on my voyage to the Old World and it was like a calm breeze fluttered across the stuffy room. Davina's jaws smacked shut, the dark haired girl twirled around to gaze at what had distracted her friend. And they were friends, everything about them from their smiles, to their posture, to the way the girl lightly grasped Davina's wrist told me they were friends. And then she looked at me, with these blue eyes filled with shadows and the only though that flickered through my mind was 'Important'.

I felt Marcel instantaneously behind me. I cocked my head slightly towards him, as I smiled down at the dark haired girl.

"Davina, it's nice to see you well, out and about" I purred.

"Thanks, you too" she mumbled back, a panicked look in her eye.

"Klaus you're finally up" commented Marcel

I remained silent, gazing at the dark haired girl. She too continued to gaze at me, alert, curious. I saw her pupils grow larger and I felt the distance between us lessen, though neither of us took a step. Yet somehow she remained separate. Calculating.

I could feel the focus of the room shift. Elijah his usual silent but observant self, Haley looking on with her trademark mix of indifference and anger.

Finally Marcel cleared his throat and said "This is Gina Fermin"

"A pleasure" I whispered, causing her head to bob closer to catch my words. She smelled … important. I smirked, as my fingertips clutched hers, raising them. Her fingers burned, they were far too warm for a human. Our hands hovered between us, while I contemplated bringing them to my lips. Somehow I knew that would be a mistake, it was not of her time. Instead I bowed slightly, compromising between her time and mine, never letting go off her gaze. But eventually I let go of her fingers.

"The Fermin's, now there's a family I'm not familiar with." I questioned.

"Her father is from out of the state. But her mother is from the quarter. A distant aunt of Davina's." replied Marcel "Gina's here to learn about magic."

I gave Gina a fox like smile, followed by a curt nod and wandered out of the room.

**Three days.**

The cease fire continued.

As did the dreams. More intensely but still murky.

Three days, since I had seen her.

Elijah lounged on the sofa, his legs crossed, fussing over his tuxedo bow-tie.

My fingers flitted over the cracked keys of the piano. I avoided the right side cause the C-sharp always stuck and G-sharp was out of tune.

"Somethings off" he declared, brows heavy "I think Marcel is up to something."

Just then the clock chimed eight and he jumped up, heading out the door. I

Somethings off. Elijah wasn't the only one to notice. Recently all the vampires, witches, wolves and hybrids, seemed to have a weary look to them. All this time I tought it was the dreams, but if everyone else was feeling it too, it must be more

Tim walked in, hovering at the archway. Mick. Mark. Matt. Hmmm …. Tim's brother, whatever his name, stood outside.

"So?" I hummed, in tune to Tchaikovsky, to the keys I stroked.

"She did the same thing again last night. She disappeared into the woods, with that old book." Tim stated. I had acquired Tim and his brother a few months ago, part of some back water pack. Nothing special to them, but they followed commands and instructions well.

"And?" I continued to hum.

"We weren't able to follow her again; the woods just seem to swallow her whole." He said, head hung, brows furrowed, creases forming on the corners of his eyes. The brothers were great trackers, must be all that inbreeding. Yet they couldn't keep up with one lonely girl?

"She came back by 3:30, snuck in the side window to Marcel's. In the morning Davina drove her to school. As always she was like a shadow, Davina's shadow. Quite. Didn't speak to anybody but Davina. Their in all the same classes."

"And the book?"

"Its old …" started Tim

"Looked like a grimoire." Interrupted Mick from the other side of the threshold. Yup, his name was Mick

"The cover has a wolf on it, and this symbol scratched on it." continued Tim. He stepped forward and placed a torn piece of paper on the music rack. I looked up at it. Qetsiyah. Interesting.

**Four hours later** I found myself, stalking her.

She strolled ahead, across the woods; I heard no shuffle, no crunch, just silence. Even her scent could not be found on the air. Despite my abilities, I could only track her because of the glinting eyes of the wolf on that grimoire. One thing the brothers had failed to mention was that faded on the right-bottom corner of the book, was the name Fermin. The out of state father, curious.

At a clearing, she stopped abruptly and began to chant.

She descended onto the ground like a soft cloud, floating. Her eyes glazed. A fire started to blaze, casting familiar shadows on the rocks and on the ground. Out of these shadows a familiar shape began to form and it looked directly at me. I thought I knew darkness and shadows, but those eyes they drew me, pulled me in like pools of gravity.


	2. Muck and Mud (Klaus POV)

The fire roared and a millisecond latter darkness descended. It momentarily blinded me. The moon and stars were hidden under an ocean of clouds. In all this black-stillness, I believed myself to be dreaming. But only for a second. I could not see but I could feel the lingering heat from the dead fire. I stepped forward. Nothing. No Gina Fermin.

After stumbling around for a bit, in the distance I saw the glow of a town.

**Fifteen minutes later** I found myself at some rinky-dink gas station. I walked in from the darkness, into the artificial brightness of the store. Behind the counter were two teenagers. At the register stood a short black girl, with blonde locks cut into a bob, reading _Chomsky: A Guide for the Perplexed. _ At the other end a tall gangly boy with the shirt _Particle physics gives me a hadron_, hunched over a tablet, squiggling numbers onto a paper. I was starting to feel peckish. The boys jugular gushed, the sound ringing in my ears. I began walking towards him.

"Pardon" I said.

He looked up and I compelled him.

"Where's your car?" I asked

"Oh, we don't have cars. We ride our bikes out here." replied the girl, finally looking up from her book.

"Holy shit bud, you look like crap" she exclaimed, as she rummaged behind the counter.

Well, well, you just jumped to the top of the line. I snaked my way towards her. Teal colored hair framed her neck. She lugged out a giant paper-roll and slammed it onto the red linoleum counter top.

"Car trouble? Phone trouble?" She shot out with an arched eyebrow, as she wiped out an old cellphone from her back pocket. "Here, no worries. You can use this." She half smiled.

I picked up the phone, and clicked the phone icon, just as it dawned on me that I knew nobody's number. I flipped to her call log, her address book, all empty.

"Terrible night to be hiking, no moon, nothing, sucks" she said twisting the corner of her lips. She peeked out, but the reflection of the gas station's interior blocked her view. She continued to squint at the reflection. I glared at her mirror image, capturing her gaze. I began to compel her, but the chit just kept blabbering away.

"Don't stress, I'll call you a cab" she began dialing on the rotary phone beside her. I looked directly into her eyes and compelled her again.

"He should be here in ten to fifteen minutes." She said, looking up at me. She then glanced at the un-moving boy.

"Aaron. Aaron!" she shrieked, concern in her eyes, as she hung up the phone. I released my hold on the boy.

"Chill Etta, what you hollering about?" said the boy, going back to his scribbles.

I unrolled some of the paper, and began to dust off the mud and muck on my clothes. The girl picked up her book and once again her nose was buried in it. She looked up at me under the grey rim of her 'The **5th Wheel** Station' baseball hat and stated "you got a smudge, right here" a twinkle in her black eyes. She stroked her right index finger across her left cheek. I mirrored her movement wiping my right cheek, as I leaned on the ice box beside me.

**Five minutes passed.**

"So?" whispered Etta

"So" replied Aaron.

"What you doing?"

"Reading a mathematical paper on Shannon entropy and the holographic principle. It's a theory the we are a 3D representation of 2D information based on … "

"Observation made about black holes and statistical analysis on the 11 dimensions of space and time."Etta smirked looking towards Aaron

He let out a laugh.

"You know about it." He replied, a foolish grin on his face.

"Dork" she half smiled

Ladies and gentlemen … young, awkward, flirting

And then she recited:

"Oh, please, your news is wasted,

I knew it long ago.

Do you think I have not tasted,

Where you, drunkard, linger so?"

I looked up at that. She had returned to her book. But those words were familiar; I remember reading them before, in Latin or Greek.

Hooooooonk. Hooooonk. Honk

"I think that's your cab" she half smiled, then waved creating more wrinkles on the brain grenade on her shirt.

I smiled back, as I stepped through the glass door.

Well that was stupendous.

But first things first - Gina Fermin.

I stepped into the cab and across the rear-view mirror compelled the driver to take me home.

I skipped up the steps. Twisted the handle and leaned into the door. Laughter greeted me. I steeped across the threshold and found Elijah slumped in the sofa, his tie undone, chuckling. Haley clad in jeans and a tee sat beside him. Her legs folded under her as she gazed down at him, smiling.

Haley turned towards me, her face bouncing back to the blank composure I knew. She stood up, uttered "Good night" and walked away.

Elijah looked up and said "Well, seemed you had one riveting night."

He continued to inspect me, the clock ticked on. Finally he too stood up and and left.

Just then Tim treaded forward.

"Well?" I asked through ground teeth.

"She got back an hour ago" he recited "Will there be anything else?

"NO" I snarled, as I raced up the stairs.


	3. Spectacular (Davinia POV)

Whack! The locker door crashed beside me, as the words _I don't give a flux_ whooshed passed. That tall boy with the messy Jamie Dorian haircut was about to bulldoze into me. Green eyes framed by a legion of black lashes gawked down at me and he leaped back. Up into the air soared everything in the stack he'd been clutching.

From the floor he eyeballed me, as Gina gently placed her palm on my shoulder.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah" I answered a little dazed. Gina knelt, neatly placing her pile of books beside her, picking thru the assembly of articles scattered on the floor.

"Hi, I'm Gina." She chuckled lightly, eyes downcast, handing him his large thick rimmed glasses. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Aaron." he retorted with a flustered chuckle of his own, jamming the black glasses onto his face. "I mean I'm Aaron. I think you're in my AP Chem."

"I like your shirt" replied Gina, pointing to the trig diagram on his tee.

"Thanks. That for AP English?" countered Aaron, nodding towards _Dostoevsky's Demons_ resting at the apex of her pile.

"Nah, I just like him." She replied shyly.

"What's going on down there?" commented Josh, sneaking up behind me. He extended his arm and braced himself against the lockers. The heat from his skin radiated onto by neck and onto my shoulders.

"Well whatever it is, it's done now." He stated, striding forward, holding out his hand. Gina hesitantly placed hers in his, he grasped her fingers and tugged. She sprung up and crashed into his chest. Gina giggled nervously, Josh smirked, my cheeks burned, and Aaron hopped up. Juggling his crooked tower of things, miraculously avoiding another accident.

"Seriously I'm very sorry. I really didn't see you there." He said guiltily.

"Its okay" I responded through ground teeth, as Josh laughed behind him. Aaron looked down at me in disbelief, half a smile and half a grimace plastered on his face. "Well" he said a few moments later, waved and walked away.

"See you in Chemistry" called Gina after him. Aaron whirled, lifted his left arm and ogled his smart watch.

"Yup. I guess I'll see you in about a minute seventeen seconds" he smiled. Josh bent down and scooped up Gina's books, as the three of us headed to room 107.

Josh slapped Gina's books onto the table. I took my usual seat, Josh sat beside me and Gina grabbed the stool across from Josh, next to her books.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, time for our weekly experiment." Boomed Mrs. Bagratuni, as Josh and me swiveled on our stools to face the front. "

Today we are going to be making _acetyloxy benzoic acid_, generically know as Asprin. Thankfully we now have an even number of students, so Aaron our lab floater you finally have a partner. Ms. Fermin, Gina, Aaron's going to be you're partner for this lab and all subsequent ones. Everyone, please head to the back and collect … "

Both Gina and Aaron smiled awkwardly at each other, each expecting the other to join them on their table. I let out a deep breath and signaled for him to join us.

Both boys treaded to the back of the class and returned with our lab kits. Gina and Aaron rummaged through their bin, deftly hooking up the apparatus, hardly referring to the manual.

"You're good at this." commented Aaron.

"Well yeah, its just like making poti…"

"Cooking" I interrupted. Aaron looked quizzingly at me.

"She likes making pork ribs."

"Okay. You like cooking." Continued Aaron, Gina blushed; Josh fiddled with the equipment gazing at Gina through the corner of his eye.

**A week ago.**

Finally a bit of peace in The Quarter. Haley had taken back leadership of the wolves, Marcel and Klaus had reached some kind of truce and even the witches were strangely silent.

I was in the living room doing homework, the TV buzzing in the background, when Marcel walked in.

"I'd like you to meet someone." He stepped to the side, lightly dragging a young girl forward. "This is Gina Fermin." He sat on the couch and cupped my hands in his. "I know your power worries you, Gina's here to help with that."

I looked towards the girl, my savior. She had jet black hair, which spilled down in long shinny waves, big blue eyes and an angelic face. Her skin was a weird mix of caramel and grey. She had on a Nirvana t-shirt, faded back jeans that were torn all over, and some really old school Nikes.

"Her parents have sent here, so she can know what it's like to belong to a coven and to go to school. I've registered her at yours and in your classes. Take care of her, alright." Marcel looked at me earnestly and I nodded.

"Why don't you take her up and show her to a room." Requested Marcel.

"Alright" I responded, smiling at Gina. "Where's your luggage?" I asked. She gave Marcel a look.

"Don't worry about that. Tomorrow you can take her shopping." I nodded, she and me headed to the stairs. I turned back to wish Marcel good-night and found him hunched over, fingers braided together, worry painted on his face.

I put Gina in the room beside mine and headed out.

**Five minutes latter** I knocked on her door.

"Come in" she called. She sat on the edge, alone.

"Here, a clean tee and shorts for the night. Also here's a dress for tomorrow and I got you a glass of water too." I said, navigating how to place the glass and clothes on the dresser. The glass slipped and tumbled off the edge.

Click, snapped Gina's fingers. The glass and spilled water remained suspended in the air.

"Here, let me help you." Gina took the clothes in my arms and flung them on the bed. She clutched the glass and gathered the water into it.

"How'd you do that so easily?" I asked

"I'll show you." And she did.

**The next day** I took her shopping and we ended up buying pieces I loved. We had a great time and I started telling her about my family, Marcel and my magic. With her everything just flew out. Gina told me she was homeschooled and nervous about her first day. She was raised by her Mom, two uncles and an aunt. Her youngest uncle was her favorite. He was fun, listened to her and sneaked her out. Whenever he was home he would take her to shops and movies, he taught her how to ride a motor-cycle and a car, he took her to a bar where he bought her, her first drink. I got the impression she was raised on some kind hippie enclave. When it came to magic, Gina was powerful and utterly confident. We ended up spending the whole night taking magic and everything else.

**The day after** we raided each other's closets getting ready for school. We gelled perfectly and understood each other easily. It was like having a twin. Our first class was Algebra. She might have been homeschooled, but she'd received an excellent education. She could follow the teacher easily, solved many of the questions assigned to us, and even helped me with a few. She was sweet, smart, spectacular at everything, but very shy. She hardly said a word to anybody else.

Ring, went the second period bell.

We strolled down the hall to our Chemistry class.

"What's up?" hollered Josh.

"The ninety's called, they want their phrase back." I replied.

"Who's this" he asked, looking down at Gina

"This is Gina" I answered

"Hi" he smiled.

"Hi" she responded.

"Hi" He repeated.


End file.
